Could someone please explain to me the difference between clicking Update and Update and Finished when editing templates?

I’m a complete beginner and have been through the tutorial and the user guide for what seems like this basic piece of information. Many of my templates disappeared overnight—I’ve been mostly using “update” rather than “update and finished” since I’m nowhere near “finished” with editing my templates.

Curiously, (I have the system checked to save the templates as files), the missing templates continue to exist as files on the server, but the Expression Engines control panel apparently doesn’t see them. So whereas I have three template groups and seven or eight templates saved as files on the server, the expression engines control panel only shows two template groups, each with just their index templates, and most of them empty.

I’m trying to figure out how this could have happened, how to fix it, and how to ensure it doesn’t happen in the future.

Thanks.

Hoopsgal,

Clicking Update allows you to continue working on the view template page while perhaps checking your changes in a different window. It will still save the template exactly as Update and Finished does but in the latter it will bring you back to the main template area.

You will need to create all your templates in the Template area of EE. Uploading just the templates into the directory will not make them appear in the Control Panel.

If you have taken this direction I would say back up what you have locally in terms of templates. The Recreate them in ExpressionEngine and copy and paste the content into the newly created templates in the Control Panel.

Does that make sense?

John Donovan - 05 July 2009 02:09 PM

Hoopsgal,

You will need to create all your templates in the Template area of EE. Uploading just the templates into the directory will not make them appear in the Control Panel.

If you have taken this direction I would say back up what you have locally in terms of templates. The Recreate them in ExpressionEngine and copy and paste the content into the newly created templates in the Control Panel.

Does that make sense?

I just want to make sure I understand. Are you saying that if you make changes to a template that has been saved as a file iin the file, as opposed to in the template, then the changes aren’t going to show up in the template? (I presume they show up on the site, right, if the info is in the files?)

Wouldn’t this be extremely dangerous? I mean, suppose you create a template from the Control Panel, then save template as a file.

(1) You make your first change to that template in the control Panel. I assume once you hit “update” or “update and finished” that change will also be saved to the file, right?

(2) Assuming yes to item 1, then you find you have a more extensive change, and decide to make that one in the file, as opposed to in the Control Panel, so that you can use a text editor. You save the file and hit “upload” in your FTP. If I’m understanding you correctly, that change will{/i] be saved to the file (and presumably would therefore show up on the site, but won’t show up in the template in the Control Panel, despite having been uploaded. Did I understand that correctly.

It’s really what you want your workflow to be.  Some developers prefer to save templates as files and only work on them from there.  Other prefer to just go through the control panel window.  You just need to decide which is right for you.

In any case, does everything seem clear?

-greg